^^ It was my first time there, and I was quite surprised at the lack of food options. Plenty of restaurants, but hardly any outlets selling food on the go. The elderly couple in front of me who pulled out a packed lunch half way through the doubles clearly knew what they were doing.

Seriously, cracking performance there mate. If I was a TV/tennis producer I'd sign you up and get you involved somehow. I'm always struck but how poorly and boringly tennis is re presentation in general. Always the same frequently dull people. A bit of a younger vibe is what's needed. Anyhow, it looks like fun. Did you enjoy being filmed and talking etc? Any aspirations to get into this side of things more?

Seriously, cracking performance there mate. If I was a TV/tennis producer I'd sign you up and get you involved somehow. I'm always struck but how poorly and boringly tennis is re presentation in general. Always the same frequently dull people. A bit of a younger vibe is what's needed. Anyhow, it looks like fun. Did you enjoy being filmed and talking etc? Any aspirations to get into this side of things more?

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It was good being filmed. I'm used to that as it's been done loads of time when I've been at Roland Garros, but this time the cameraman was a bit more respectful of the fact I need space to string a racket. The talking was good as well, as the guy interviewing me was actually knowledgeable and asked decent, technical questions.

If I win my first singles match, in the second round I'll face the number 1 seed (he had a bye). I've been told he's 14. I'm really hoping I get through to face him, as I'd like to find out how I compare to a decent junior (probably get smoked, but my ego can cope with that. I think. )

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Played the number 1 seed this morning. Turns out he was 15 rather than 14. My game plan revolved around making him play at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, in the hope I'd catch him napping. When he turned up 10 minutes early, the match was pretty much lost. The conclusion is that I am nowhere near the level of a decent junior, and that I may as well just accept that I'm becoming a fat old man.

Still in the doubles. Things look mildly brighter there, as our next opponents are only the number 2 seeds.

Played the number 1 seed this morning. Turns out he was 15 rather than 14. My game plan revolved around making him play at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, in the hope I'd catch him napping. When he turned up 10 minutes early, the match was pretty much lost. The conclusion is that I am nowhere near the level of a decent junior, and that I may as well just accept that I'm becoming a fat old man.

Still in the doubles. Things look mildly brighter there, as our next opponents are only the number 2 seeds.

Yeah, I can take a beating like a man. ;-) I felt bad for wasting his time more than anything. It was worst case scenario - a gulf in class and me having an off day! I don't remember the last time I hit that many double faults, and I can't really say that was down to my opponent.

Doubles is just comical the way we play it. I entered with a hitting partner, and in the first round it was painfully obvious that we have no sense of positioning. I'm still not entirely sure how we won that match actually.

I've only found two shaped polys that I liked - ALU rough and Tour Bite. I think it's more down to general properties of the string rather than any shaping mind, as there are plenty of smooth polys I don't like.

The only real difference I've noticed is when I stick it in the crosses. All my wear comes on the mains, and if they're moving against a shaped poly they tend to break quicker.

^^ It was my first time there, and I was quite surprised at the lack of food options. Plenty of restaurants, but hardly any outlets selling food on the go. The elderly couple in front of me who pulled out a packed lunch half way through the doubles clearly knew what they were doing.

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Yeah agreed. There's not a lot once you're inside the arena. That and the quality is poor.

:shock:
If there was a smiley thta had fainted i'd of used that, I hope they taste good.
Have you looked at ankle braces?The OT at our hospital said aircast are one of the best.

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Unfortunately poor quality ... I think I ate about half in the end

I haven't tried the aircast ones, I was using the ASO for a while but now I'm trying to do everything without one. I think when I play a match again I'll likely wear it for the first couple at least though. Starting to get a good range of motion and comfort back slowly

Personally I think the effect is marginal at best. It's all about the feel and how it interacts with the cross/main as opposed to any real effect on the ball. The only shaped poly I've liked is BHBR which I think was pretty good all round. Alu Rough felt just like Alu to me. Tour Bite I thought was ok but not much more than ok. Initially I liked it but then I went off it, can't really explain it, just feel.

I still think SPPP is my favourite, possibly Polystar Energy. Haven't played with poly for a while though. Think I'm falling apart

Personally I think the effect is marginal at best. It's all about the feel and how it interacts with the cross/main as opposed to any real effect on the ball. The only shaped poly I've liked is BHBR which I think was pretty good all round. Alu Rough felt just like Alu to me. Tour Bite I thought was ok but not much more than ok. Initially I liked it but then I went off it, can't really explain it, just feel.

I still think SPPP is my favourite, possibly Polystar Energy. Haven't played with poly for a while though. Think I'm falling apart

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Interesting... Yes, I think it was you who pointed me in the direction of SPPP some years back... +2 here on the falling apart comment.

There is a Volkl shaped poly that definitely makes a difference. I can't remember the name. But because I don't really struggle to produce spin I find the straight stuff fine. Two setups I have enjoyed have been Signum Pro Hyperion in a full bed - though this is very racket sensitive - and a hybrid of Big Banger Original and Mantis Comfort synthetic. The latter is a superb hybrid and not at all racket sensitive.

Knee-jerk reaction complete: pallets changed on a TGK to take it from a 5 to a 4, and strung up with gut/poly all ready for a hit tomorrow. I've been with the EXO3 since February. Really would like to get my serve back.

Seems like the weather has really nose-dived. Quite why I'm opting for a gut string-job, I do not know.:roll:

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Uuughh tell me about it. I only recently started to play again and put in some Klip. Ended up hitting while quite wet (as I'm not really moving much anyhow at the moment...). Broke it in just under 2hrs! Expensive!

Uuughh tell me about it. I only recently started to play again and put in some Klip. Ended up hitting while quite wet (as I'm not really moving much anyhow at the moment...). Broke it in just under 2hrs! Expensive!

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Rob,

As I'm pretty new to gut and given our weather, can you tell me what are the rules re playing in the wet. I'm presuming playing when raining is definitely out. But what if it's just damp out (say it had been raining a few hours before but wasn't actually raining anymore)? And can you play with gut in a small amount of drizzle?

On another matter, as an esteemed UK RH of long-standing haha, why not join the likes of Dave, Rich and myself on the FB group? IIRC you were dead against it and the idea of being on FB previously - which I understand. But you can simply join and do nothing else but post in the UKRHs group, which is a closed group, i.e., no-one but the groups members can have access to you etc. You wouldn't have to have anything to do with the rest of FB appartus, so to speak. There's definitely some good banter (some of it stuff we can't really say on TT). And, most importantly, some pretty good 'action' on the racketaholic front LOL. Anyhow, just thought I'd mention it.

As I'm pretty new to gut and given our weather, can you tell me what are the rules re playing in the wet. I'm presuming playing when raining is definitely out. But what if it's just damp out (say it had been raining a few hours before but wasn't actually raining anymore)? And can you play with gut in a small amount of drizzle?

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I once met an old-timer who had been playing with gut since back in the day. He used to keep a bottle of baby powder in his bag (it was probably talc, actually. Can you even buy talc now? I remember my dad having Brut when I was young, but I'm not sure I've seen the stuff since...), and sprinkled it on the strings after playing in the drizzle or wet. No idea if that's a good idea or not, but he believed in it.

These days, most gut has a coating. It should take some punishment, though I guess once it starts to fray you have that danger of moisture getting in.

I once met an old-timer who had been playing with gut since back in the day. He used to keep a bottle of baby powder in his bag (it was probably talc, actually. Can you even buy talc now? I remember my dad having Brut when I was young, but I'm not sure I've seen the stuff since...), and sprinkled it on the strings after playing in the drizzle or wet. No idea if that's a good idea or not, but he believed in it.

These days, most gut has a coating. It should take some punishment, though I guess once it starts to fray you have that danger of moisture getting in.

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I see. So a bit of damp is okay... BTW, I love that story about the talcum powder. I may have to nick some off my Gran!

As I'm pretty new to gut and given our weather, can you tell me what are the rules re playing in the wet. I'm presuming playing when raining is definitely out. But what if it's just damp out (say it had been raining a few hours before but wasn't actually raining anymore)? And can you play with gut in a small amount of drizzle?

On another matter, as an esteemed UK RH of long-standing haha, why not join the likes of Dave, Rich and myself on the FB group? IIRC you were dead against it and the idea of being on FB previously - which I understand. But you can simply join and do nothing else but post in the UKRHs group, which is a closed group, i.e., no-one but the groups members can have access to you etc. You wouldn't have to have anything to do with the rest of FB appartus, so to speak. There's definitely some good banter (some of it stuff we can't really say on TT). And, most importantly, some pretty good 'action' on the racketaholic front LOL. Anyhow, just thought I'd mention it.

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Yeah, join the group. I do 99% of my FB activity within the UKRH group. It's great, lot's of good friendly banter and LOTS of serious RHing going on. Always a good place to pick up different frames too.

Was anyone else at Twickenham yesterday? What an amazing game! Having watched a series of really mediocre football matches recently it was exhilarating to see some brilliant sport. Nobody wanted to leave the stadium at the end.

I was muttering to myself before the game... Youngs in for Care, the most uninventive centre pairing since Tindall and Noon, no specialist open side, only one winger in the 23... fortunately it turns out that Stuart Lancaster knows a damned sight more about team selection than I do.

^^^No Dags, your original points still apply. Manu and Barritt are still a very one dimensional pairing, Manu runs some decent lines however, but neither of them can pass more than 5 yards - the handling for the Manu try was pretty poor and Barritt passed too early, not committing his man. For me they shouldn't start together (either one or other should start at 13 - gives more depth to the squad then). Robshaw is not an open side, but yesterday the whole team committed so well at the break down it hardly mattered - Launchbury played like an extra back-row forward! Brown did have a good game at 11 and against a team who kick as well as NZ (and the Saffas for that matter) it makes sense to have an extra full back. Although I don't really rate Alex Goode. B.Youngs is okay, but I prefer Care as his pass his sharper and he's quicker at getting the ball out of the ruck, Youngs just stands around waiting for it to come back.

Morgan, Wood, Launchbury, Parling, Cole all had stormers and the rest were all very solid (Manu benefitting from Dan Carter having a bit of a shocker in the tackle!).

We started our celebrations in earnest when England scored their third try. We finished them at about 430pm this afternoon. Makes you feel lucky to be alive in several senses. Though I dont feel all that good right now and don't expect it to get any better for a while.

I thought England played well as a collective. Pretty much every player did things well and badly. It didn't matter that much when things went wrong because of the overall strength of purpose. I think Robshaw can take some real credit for that.

I'm hopeful that this week he has a session with Billy Twelvetrees about kicking out of hand. Probably whilst the rest of the team are being reminded that it's preferable to keep 15 men on the field for more than 60 minutes.

We started our celebrations in earnest when England scored their third try. We finished them at about 430pm this afternoon. Makes you feel lucky to be alive in several senses. Though I dont feel all that good right now and don't expect it to get any better for a while.

I thought England played well as a collective. Pretty much every player did things well and badly. It didn't matter that much when things went wrong because of the overall strength of purpose. I think Robshaw can take some real credit for that.

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Definitely a day for celebration. Whilst I agree with Ash that there are a number of misgivings about this team, how often do you beat New Zealand? And how often is it a decent win? NZ didn't play well, but before the game were being touted as maybe the best side ever. If you don't stop and bask for a moment at times like this, when do you? (World Cup wins aside. But they're even less common.)

I'm hopeful that this week he has a session with Billy Twelvetrees about kicking out of hand. Probably whilst the rest of the team are being reminded that it's preferable to keep 15 men on the field for more than 60 minutes.

You have to enjoy it when it comes along. I had a small amount of money on England to win by 10 points or more and so ended up buying drinks for 10 people for about 12 hours.

I think that partly by accident and partly by design we are starting to put a good side together. The only real problems are at 10, where Farrell is very good in defence and place kicking but struggles to get on the offensive, and in the centre where we have lots of options but no real creative talent that I can see. Tuilagi looks a certain pick for the foreseeable future so it will be a question of who plays with him. Perhaps Burns, perhaps Foden. Dunno. Other than that there seem to be good options for almost all positions. I like Goode, Brown and Ashton on the pitch at the same time.

Oddly enough, Tuilagi is one of my main issues with this side. There are some very promising wingers (cough *Sharples* cough), but no real point in picking them if they never get passed the ball. I think he's too predictable, taking the ball into contact every single time. I hope they can coach it out of him, because he's clearly one of the brightest talents.

Launchbury and the return of Wood were the finds for me this series. The dynamic of Launchbury reminded me of an era when Tim Rodber moved into the second row later in his England career, resulting in a front 4 and back 4. I can't decide if having him and Lawes in the same side would be too imbalanced, but I hope to find out!

I'd like to see Brown at 15 for the 6 Nations. I'm still not sold on Goode, and would place a fit Foden back above him.

When they missed their first kick at goal i was hopeful it would be a close game yesterday, just seemed like each of the 1st 15 wanted to get at them from the start and not let the A B's have a moment to settle which surely is the way we should be playing.
However, I never expected them to do that well.If nothing else it shows 2 things, one the players are starting to play well with each other and know their roles and two, the coaching decision was te correct one.I really hope that style of play can be continued to the 6N but I (as some of the others of you have said) am a little concerned by the centre pairing.It does seem out of balance bu we've been a bit short of having a settled balanced pair for a while haven't we.
I will confess to being a little concerned earlier in the autumn test series when being in another room to the TV heard the announcer Goode was starting, for a panic filled second i thought they meant the (ex?) Leicester player...

There he is!
I remember seeing him on tv playing for Leicester not long after his debut for them and thinking he would be handy one day.Never did anything for ENgland though , as you say a total inability to tackle anything bigger than a small no.9 might of held him back a bit! You see why i paniced though, I thought we were returning to the Jonno years and the thought process of "hmm it's all gone wrong, we're loosing, lets call some old teammates of mine up"
Why doesn't he just cut his hair?

Oddly enough, Tuilagi is one of my main issues with this side...I think he's too predictable, taking the ball into contact every single time. I hope they can coach it out of him, because he's clearly one of the brightest talents.
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Interesting what you say about Tuilagi. I was sitting right above the corner where England scored all three tries -- have I mentioned that I was there? -- and could almost look into Tuilagi's eyes as he approached the line for the Barritt try. You could see him realise that he might be caught and you could see him suddenly work out that he could pass the ball and we could still score. It all happened in a flash of course but it was as if he had a moment of revelation. Let's hope so. If he has it could define England's fortunes for the next five years. Ashton is a superb finisher and will pick the scoring lines if Youngs and Tuilagi can make the breaks. But Youngs can't do it all on his own.